ECONOMIC SITUATION WORSENS

The talk of Gambia becoming an economic superpower is now becoming clear to many to be a mere joke as the economic situation of the country continues to worsen and poverty intensifies. Preliminary figures according to the IMF report shows a decline of 6.6 percent in exports (domestic exports and re-exports) in 2014 while imports rose by 10.2 percent. This will simply widen the trade deficit which stood at 8.7 billion dalasis in 2013 (domestic exports 414 million dalasis, re-exports 3.4 billion dalasis and imports 12.5 billion). Growth in GDP has declined to 0.5 percent according to official figures.

Vendors take their goods to the market but cannot find buyers. Poverty has disenabled many to meet the obligations of Tobaski. They just cannot afford to buy a ram and clothes for their families even if the prices fall. The current Tobaski sales and ram sales are a living testimony. If a vendor can sell only one or no pair of shoes in a day as some of them have said, how can he/she survive?

The economic policy of broadening the tax base to increase revenue is doing nothing more than to kill many businesses in the informal sector.